Child-resistant pill dispenser

ABSTRACT

A pill or tablet dispensing container is presented which includes a closure which dispenses only one tablet at a time and is very difficult for an uninstructed child to operate while simple for an adult to use. The container is first inverted and held in that position to allow a tablet to enter a chamber in the rotary member in the cap which is then rotated against a torsion spring until the tablet-containing chamber becomes aligned with an outlet in the cap and the tablet falls out. The cap, however, is free to turn all of the way around with respect to the container and must be held with the hand and fingers along with the container to prevent any rotation between them while the rotor is moved into position with the thumb.

United States Patent 1 Uroshevich et a1.

1 1 CHILD-RESISTANT PILL DISPENSER [75] Inventors: Miroslav Uroshevich;Richard T.

Powers; Raymond L. Sperber, all of Cincinnati, Ohio [73] Assignee: TheAFA Corporation, Miami Lakes, Fla.

[22] Filed: Nov. 1, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 411,946

152] U.S. CI 221/265; 221/276; 221/312 R [51] Int. Cl B65h 3/36 [58]Field of Search 221/265, 263, 264, 237,

2,886,209 5/1959 Lermer..... 222/452 X 2,923,436 211960 Koehn 221/197 X3,241,712 3/1966 Sacchetti et a1. 221/265 1 June 17, 1975 Fadden 206/42X Medicks et a1. 267/154 X [57] ABSTRACT A pill or tablet dispensingcontainer is presented which includes a closure which dispenses only onetable! at a time and is very difficult for an uninstructed child tooperate while simple for an adult to use. The container is firstinverted and held in that position to allow a tablet to enter a chamberin the rotary member in the cap which is then rotated against a torsionspring until the tablet-containing chamber becomes aligned with anoutlet in the cap and the tablet falls out. The cap, however, is free toturn all of the way around with respect to the container and must beheld with the hand and fingers along with the container to prevent anyrotation between them while the rotor is moved into position with thethumb.

1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUN 17 ms 13g {3 89 47 SHEET 1PATENTEDJUN 1 7 1975 SHEET CHILD-RESISTANT PILL DISPENSER BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION AND DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART Along with the wide spreaduse of drugs in pill or tablet form has come the problem of keeping themfrom small children who may open the container and swallow the contentswith harmful, dangerous and some times fatal results to the child. Itis, therefore, important that the closure for the container be of a typewhich is ordinarily too difficult for a child to open withoutinstruction but yet is easy and convenient for an adult to operate. Inview of the importance of this problem, a number of closures have beenpresented in the art which purport to solve it but have variousshortcomings which prevent them from performing completely effectivelyin this respect.

In addition, to the above, it is desirable that the closure for thecontainer provide for the dispensing of one or more tablets at a timedepending upon the quantity required for a single dose. A number ofdispensing closures have been presented in the art which dispensetablets according to dose but yet lack the feature of a childproof"closure as well. Applicants invention, on the other hand, has improvedon this art and presents a dispensing closure which is at the same timevery resistant to opening by small children principally because of thefreely turning cap which must be held still with respect to thecontainer while a thumbpiece is moved to permit passage of a tablet fromthe container, all of this being done while the container is inverted.Such a combination of actions is not likely to be tried by a smallchild.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the presentinvention to provide a dispensing closure for a pill or tablet containerwhich dispenses a single dose of one or more tablets and is veryresistant to opening by a child yet is easily operated by an adult.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a single dosedispensing closure for a pill or tablet con tainer which requiresinversion of the container, holding of the container and its captogether to prevent rotation and concurrent movement of a thumbpiecefrom a first position to a second position and back again before atablet is dispensed thus making it difficult for a child to obtain atablet from it.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a closure ofthe foregoing type which, once installed, is not removed from thecontainer and cannot, therefore, be inadvertently left off to expose thecontents to children.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a containerclosure of the foregoing type wherein the container can be inverted,dropped or shaken without loss of its contents.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedetailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention andthe claims which follow.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the closure and itsassociated container with the closure in its unopened or closed positionand with the cap in place on the container;

FIG. 2 is a view taken on section 22 looking downward on the rotor withthe rotor in its normal or unopened position;

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway view looking down on the top of the capand showing its port and the slot in its skirt;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the upper portion of thecontainer and closure taken on section 44;

FIG. 5 is an external view of a portion of the closure and containershowing the slot in the cap and the plug lug and thumbpiece therein;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the various parts in their relativepositions before assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION OF THE INVENTION With reference toFIG. 1 of the drawings, a cylindrical container 10 containing medicinalpills or tablets 11 is fitted with a closure cap 12 which includes aflat circular top and an annular skirt 12a having an annular lip 12b onits inner periphery. As will be seen from FIG. 1 of the drawings, lip12b fits within an annular groove 13 on container 10 and is free toslide in it in an annular direction so that the whole cap 12 can berotated freely with respect to container 10. Disposed between cap 12 andthe rim of container 10 are two separate members comprising a rotor 14and a tablet guide or plug 15. Guide or plug 15 is substantiallydome-shaped with the dome extended into the container in the mannershown in FIG. 1 with the widest diameter of the dome being sodimensioned that an annular space sufficient to loosely accomodate onerow of tablets stood on edge exists between the dome and the wall withthe dome supported by an annular flange which bears upon the containersrim. In flange 15a there is a tablet port or slot 16 which extendsthrough flange 15a, and is sized so as to allow just one tablet to passeasily through it at a time. It is located at the lower end of a helicalramp 17 which is wound or formed upon the dome of plug 15 and leadsdownwardly to slot 16 in the manner shown in the drawings particularlyin FIG. 6. Atop the flange 15a of plug 15 and between it and cap 12, isinterposed rotor 14 which is free to rotate by sliding in rotary fashionupon both flange 15a and the inner face of cap 12 and is restrained onlyfrom lateral movement by the annular skirt of cap 12. Rotor 14 has a cutout portion or chamber 21 in its periphery as shown in FIG. 1 whichserves in cooperation with flange l5 and cap 12 as a tablet receivingchamber, and a tab or thumbpiece 18 extends outwardly from rotor 15through a slot 19 in the annular skirt of cap 12 as shown in FIG. 3 andis provided with grooves or knurlings 18a on its exterior end to serveas a non-skid surface. Cap 12 has a tablet dispensing port or opening 20in its upper face adjacent to its annular side and which is adapted tobe brought into register with tablet chamber 21 upon rotation of rotor14 to that location as will be explained later.

Flange 15a of plug 15 includes an integral projection or lug 22 whichextends outwardly in FIG. 4 into the lower part of slot 19 in the skirtof the rim of the cap 12 between rotor 14 and the upper rim of container10. Lug 22 is substantially co-extensive in length with the slot 19 andfits in it closely to prevent rotation of plug 15 with respect to cap12. Plug 22 is unattached to con- 3 tainer and will rotate freely withrespect to it with any rotational movement of cap 12.

A torsion bar spring 23 is provided which extends from a fixed positionpush fit in the center of rotor 14 to a fixed position push fit insidethe center of dome piece as shown in FIG. 1. It is intended that barspring 23 be made of plastic having resilient qualities which will causeit to return to its original shape after it has been twisted as much asa quarter of a turn but other materials such as various spring metalsincluding, but not limited to, stainless steel could be used so long asthey are compatible with the material of the cap and other parts and thecontainer and its contents. It is possible, however, in anotherembodiment to eliminate the spring 23 entirely by careful dimensioningof the clear' ance between the upper and lower faces of rotor 14 and theplug 15 and cap 12 so that friction is produced as the rotor is movedwhich is of sufficient magnitude to keep rotor 14 in place duringhandling, dropping or shaking but yet permits it to be easily rotated bypushing on thumbpiece l8. Rotor 14 will not return to its originalposition with this arrangement but must be manually pushed in bothdirections. Such an arrangement can be used if desired for some reason,but orindarily a spring return of rotor 14 is used since it isordinarily more convenient since the rotor is then always in theoriginal or starting position.

The cap 12, rotor 14, spring 23 and domed guide plug 15 are firstassembled by placement of the rotor 14 in cap 12 with the thumbpiece 18extended outward through slot 19. it should be noted that the opening orport 20 of cap 12 becomes aligned with chamber of rotor 14 whenthumbpiece 18 is as far as it will go in one direction to assume a firstor open position and is completely blocked by cap 12 when the thumbpiece18 is moved as far as it will go in the opposite direction to a secondor closed position, Spring 23 is then pushed into place in rotor 14 andwill stay in place therein becuase of the push fit. Tablet guide plug 15is then centered over rotor 14 and the free end of spring 23 is locatedin position in its receiving slot inside the dome and is pushed intoplace therein. At this point, guide 15 is rotated sufficiently withrespect to cap 12 to bring thumbpiece 18 as far as it will travel inslot 19 to its original position against its stop i.e., the end of slot19, and then is rotated slightly more to twist spring 23 sufficiently toforce thumbpiece 18 lightly against its stop so that it will remainthere unless moved by the thumb in the opposite direction. When this isachieved, lug 22 of plug 22 will fit into slot 19 to prevent relativerotation between cap 12 and plug 22 as previously de scribed herein.

At this point, container 10 is filled with pills or tablets 11 alongwith a moisture absorber such as a cotton wad at the bottom of container10, and the entire assembly just described above is then placed on itsopen top and pushed down upon it until lip 12b of cap 12 snaps in placein its mating groove 13 in container 10 and thus retains the wholeassembly to container 10 but leaves it free to rotate thereon. The skirt12a of cap 12 can be slit longitudinally in one or more locations tofacilitate this installation by allowing the skirt 12a to spreadsufficiently to allow it to be forced over the rim of container 10 untilit reaches groove 13. It will be seen that cap 12 is now almostimpossible to remove without considerable prying and possible breakageyet is entirely free to rotate with respect to container 10 and cannotbe removed by ordinary rotary unscrewing, pulling or lifting motions.Also, no pill or tablet can fall out or be removed by any such motionswithout a further combination of motions as described below. Since theseare not the motions which an uninstructed child would be likely to makein attempting to open the container or to get a pill out of it, it isapparent that this is a very child resistant feature.

In order for a pill or tablet to be released from the container 10, thecontainer is first inverted upon which action a tablet falls on the domeof guide piece 15, is guided into the space between it and rolls orslides down helical guide track 17 which leads it directly to port 16 inflange 15a. The tablet cannot pass through port 16 since it is blockedby the solid portion of rotor 14. The user, however, keeping thecontainer in the inverted position, grasps the container 10 and the cap12 with the hand and fingers to prevent their relative rotation thenmoves thumbpiece or knob 18 as far as it can go in slot 19 in the onlydirection in which it can go (its second position). This action furthertwists spring 23 and brings chamber 21 of rotor 14 into register oralignment with port 16 and the tablet falls into chamber 21, its otherside being blocked by cap 12. Thumbpiecc 18 is then released rotor 14 isreturned under the biasing action of spring 23 to its original or firstposition carrying the tablet around with it and bringing chamber 21 anddispensing port 20 into the users hand. The operation must be repeatedby full movement ofthe rotor 14 through another complete cycle in orderfor the user to obtain another tablet.

it is possible to size the ports and receiving chamber so that more thanone tablet will be dispensed per cycle if desired but this must be doneat the time of manufac ture and is not within the control of the user.

While it is possible to make the various parts of the present inventionof many different materials, it is expected that some of the plasticmaterials such as a fairly stiff polyethylene, for one stance would beused in its manufacture. Any material used should be compatible with thecontents and with each other and not of a type which could contaminatethe contents or adversely affect the user.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out thefundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferredembodiment, it will be understood that various emissions andsubstitutions and changes in the form and details of the deviceillustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in theart, Without departing from the spirit of the invention. it is theintention, therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of thefollowing claim.

What is claimed is:

l. A dispenser container for tablets comprising, in combination, acontainer having a circular open end and a closed end, a guide plugfreely rotatable in said open end and closing said open end except for aport extending through said plug and sized to permit passagetherethrough of one tablet at a time, a dome on said plug extended intothe interior of said container, a helical ramp on said dome leading tothe port in the plug, a rotor rotatably mounted in juxtaposition to saidplug and including a chamber adapted to receive a tablet, meansincluding a thumbpiece for rotating said rotor from a first positionwith respect to the plug where said chamber and said port aresufficiently in register to permit passage of a tablet therebetween to asecond posicome into register with the chamber in the rotor only whenthe rotor is moved to the second position and sufficiently in registerto allow passage of a tablet therebetween, and a torsion bar springextended between the rotor and the plug and non-rotatably mounted ineach of them with the spring biasing the rotor so that it returns to thesaid first position but allows easy rotor movement to the secondposition.

1. A dispenser container for tablets comprising, in combination, acontainer having a circular open end and a closed end, a guide plugfreely rotatable in said open end and closing said open end except for aport extending through said plug and sized to permit passagetherethrough of one tablet at a time, a dome on said plug extended intothe interior of said container, a helical ramp on said dome leading tothe port in the plug, a rotor rotatably mounted in juxtaposition to saidplug and including a chamber adapted to receive a tablet, meansincluding a thumbpiece for rotating said rotor from a first positionwith respect to the plug where said chamber and said port aresufficiently in register to permit passage of a tablet therebetween to asecond position with respect to the plug where said chamber and port areout of register sufficiently to prevent passage of a tablettherebetween, a cap rotatably mounted to the container and covering boththe plug and the rotor except for slot means in the cap through whichthe rotor rotating thumbpiece is extended and is free to allow movementof the rotor to the first and second positions, means preventingrelative rotation between the cap and the plug, a port through said capadapted to come into register with the chamber in the rotor only whenthe rotor is moved to the second position and sufficiently in registerto allow passage of a tablet therebetween, and a torsion bar springextended between the rotor and the plug and non-rotatably mounted ineach of them with thE spring biasing the rotor so that it returns to thesaid first position but allows easy rotor movement to the secondposition.